(While we’ve written about this before across several articles, we decided to consolidate everything we knew, alongside newer and better-reviewed adapters, into a single place.) Docks extend compatibility further, with Mini DisplayPort, VGA, DVI, and other formats. Apple’s version also allows for backwards compatibility with Thunderbolt 2 and via adapters can directly connect to HDMI, DisplayPart, and USB 2 and 3, among other standards. All of Apple’s current Macs include Thunderbolt 3, a high-speed data-transfer standard. In this article, I discuss compatibility with Thunderbolt 3, which relies on the USB-C connector. We also have instructions on connecting more modem displays (and even an old iMac) as a second display. If you don’t meet the parameters or want other options, check out the more broadly compatible Luma Display, as well as Duet Display, which works with Apple and other mobile and desktop platforms.

(Also, don’t forget that if you have an iPad that can run iOS 13 and a Mac model released since about 2015 running macOS Catalina, you can use the Sidecar feature to extend your Mac with an iPad.

Let’s look through the options across generations of Apple equipment. You may have upgraded your Mac since 2015 or 2016 and abandoned an older Apple display for compatibility reasons, but now it looks awfully appealing for your work-at-home situation. Many of us have or prefer a two-monitor display some readers have sent us pictures of several monitors driven by the same Mac. That question has cropped up more than ever since vast numbers of people who worked in office have suddenly had to shift to working from home. While monitors dim and components fail over time, re-using an external Apple display with a new USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 Mac remains one of the top questions Macworld gets from its readers Apple never releases much in the way of unit sales, but it’s a fair guess that several million displays were sold. After not making a display for a while, Apple returned to the market with its own Thunderbolt 3 display, the Pro Display XDR, and began shipping it in December 2020 for a minimum of $5,000.Īnd, gosh, do a lot of those older Apple monitors remain out in the field and in use. The displays started with DVI connectors, shifted to the Apple-made ADC connection, then back to DVI, expanded to dual-link DVI, pivoted to industry-standard Mini DisplayPort, and finally ended with Thunderbolt 2 connectors. From 1999 until 2016, Apple released and continued to sell a series of external digitally connected displays optimized for Mac users.

Adapter for macbook pro 2020